Innovative Projects Realized

Prédiction en temps réel du nombre d’occupants d’un bâtiment en vue d’améliorer l’opération des systèmes CVCA

L’objectif du projet et d’améliorer l’efficacité énergétique d’un bâtiment en proposant le contrôle prédictif des équipements CVCA (Chauffage Ventilation et Climatisation de l’air) de ce dernier. Cette amélioration devra être basée sur la prédiction du nombre d’occupants dans un bâtiment. Nous utiliserons les capteurs standards et spécialisés pour estimer et déterminer l’occupation en temps réel du bâtiment afin d’établir un profil. Les équipements de ventilations étant par ailleurs énergivores, on cherche à minimiser les pics de demandes énergétiques au cours de la vie du bâtiment. L’anticipation et la prédiction de la demande future permettent alors de lisser l’utilisation des équipements et donc de faire des économies énergétiques et financières.

Soil-structure interaction and design limit states for large-span Ultra-Cor steel bridges

Arched culverts are widely used nowadays as a solution for numerous roadways and railways overpassing as they are cheaper and easy to construct in comparison to conventional concrete and steel bridges. The current study involves three-dimensional numerical simulation for three full-scale field monitored large-span arched culverts (including the largest span arched culvert in the world of 32 m). The verified numerical model will then be used to investigate the impact of several parameters such as the supported soil and truck loading on performance of large span culverts. The results from this study will be used to develop design guidelines and recommendations for large-span arched culverts. Lastly, the validated numerical model will be utilized in investigating different methods to strengthen the large-span culverts in addition to simulating the welded connections between the segments of the culvert and demonstrate their impact on the performance of the culvert.

Identification des problèmes phytosanitaires de la vigne au sein de la parcelle : association de l’imagerie à ultra-haute résolution spatiale et de l’apprentissage profond.

Du fait des changements environnementaux en cours, il est nécessaire de faire évoluer les pratiques agricoles pour qu’elles soient plus respectueuses de l’environnement. Pour avoir une agriculture plus durable et tout autant productive, il est essentiel d’accompagner les agriculteurs dans cette transition, notamment en développant de nouveaux outils.
Le but de ce projet est de développer un outil d’analyse d’images permettant d’identifier des maladies de la vigne. Le dépistage est en effet une pratique déterminante pour détecter l’arrivée et la propagation de maladies. Cependant, cette pratique est peu souvent réalisée car elle demande beaucoup de temps. Automatiser le dépistage le rendrait moins contraignant. Il pourrait ainsi être effectué plusieurs fois dans l’année, délivrant de précieuses informations sur l’état de santé des cultures et permettant, entre autres, au viticulteur de moduler les doses de traitement appliquées dans la parcelle selon l’état de santé réel des plantes – limitant ainsi l’usage de pesticides.

Ancient DNA Analysis of Archaeological Aurochs Remains from China

As the wild progenitor of modern domestic cattle, aurochs became extinct in the 17th century in Europe. Their extinction in China was once thought to start at the beginning of the Neolithic due to some climatic changes. However, our recent ancient DNA analysis (Cai et al., 2018) has confirmed the aurochs had in fact survived to the end of the Late Neolithic and many of them were mistakenly identified as another species in the past.This research will apply the next-generation-sequencing analysis to obtain more informative DNA data to examine the population changes of aurochs in ancient China,in terms of the adaption to climatic changes and the impacts by human hunting and over hunting. The new research will involve in detailed genomic analysis and also multi-disciplinary integration with archaeology, SFU is one of the few places with the dedicated ancient DNA lab and the required multi-disciplinary expertise.

Using neural networks to learn the folding landscape of DNA

The human genome is composed of billions of base pairs coding for genetic information. DNA is scattered through our chromosomes that all get packed in the nucleus of a cell. Different conformations of DNA folding can be informative of cell type and lead to regulation of specific expression programs by modifying physical accessibility to transcription. The tight structure and its conformations are controlled by multiple DNA binding proteins. Advanced molecular techniques now give information on the spatial contact and interactions of sequences, and their binding proteins and factors distributions along these sequences. Recent work showed that neural networks can predict the structure given binding proteins presence/absence on sequence but the introduction of mutations in the sequence doesn’t give steady predictions yet. The goal of this project is to build another type of neural network, variational autoencoders to the DNA folding problem.

Re-claiming the neighborhood. Exploring the limits and possibilities of citizen participation in Mexico City.

This research project explores how citizen participation can either reproduce or resist the role of the state as the central actor in public decision-making processes – this is done by comparing two participatory social programs in Mexico City: a neighborhood improvement program (PMByC) and a participatory budgeting program (PP). During the field-trip, the student will conduct participatory observation in public spaces financed through these programs and will interview around 40 beneficiaries, policy makers and representatives from civil society organizations that have been involved in the design and implementation of the PMByC and the PP. The hypothesis guiding the research is that for more democratic forms of governance to materialize, citizen participation needs to be institutionalized from below – a process that requires grassroot involvement in the design of participatory mechanisms as well as a shared responsibility of state and civil society actors in the implementation of participatory programs. The findings will serve to shed light into the limits and possibilities of conceptualizing citizen participation as a democratizing practice.

Time series loan forecasting model with macroeconomic variables

The research project consists of improving a model that is used for the prediction of new loans granted at a financial institution. The improvements will come from adding macroeconomics variables in the original model which currently does not include these types of variables. The hypothesis is that adding these variables should provide more precise predictions because these variables represent conditions in the economy. Economic conditions should influence loan provided. The partner organization will benefit by benefiting from improved forecasting tool that they can implement recurrently or build upon. Also, they will benefit from a more knowledge about how factors in the Canadian economy affect their business.

Ice Hazard Drift Model Study #4 (IHDM4)

Massive drifting icebergs frequently threaten offshore operations on the Grand Banks because of their massive size, and great mechanical strength. These ice hazards move erratically, which complicates efforts to modify their trajectory or undertake evasive action. This MITACS project aims to further improve security of offshore workers and help protect wildlife and the environment by allowing refined prediction of short-term iceberg drift. The funding partner, ASL Environmental Sciences, will benefit through improved capability to provide world-class services to their clients.

Diversité fonctionnelle des forêts du Québec

Dans le contexte actuel des changements globaux, l’aménagement de nos forêts représente un défi majeur. Face a? cette réalité, nos pratiques visant a? contrôler et prédire l’évolution de nos forêts ne sont plus assez efficaces et nous devons revoir notre façon de les gérer. L’augmentation de la diversité de caractères indicateurs (traits fonctionnels) pour l’aménagement de nos forêts semble la meilleure option pour les immuniser contre les perturbations présentes et a? venir. L’objectif de ce projet est d’acquérir des connaissances sur l’évolution de la diversité des peuplements forestiers au Québec. Ces données pourront par la suite être utilisées par les gestionnaires forestiers pour les plans d’aménagements durables et à long terme des forêts du Québec.

Comprendre, implanter et évaluer les projets de rues conviviales

Le projet vise à recenser et analyser les connaissances mobilisées, les instruments utilisées et les choix stratégiques opérés dans les projets des rues conviviales ou complete street, mise en œuvre par certaines municipalités au Canada et en Amérique du Nord. L’analyse porte sur le cadre règlementaire, législatif et normatif nécessaire à la mise en place de projets de rues conviviales ; sur les processus de priorisation et de sélection d’artères dans la réalisation de rues conviviales ;sur les contenu des projets ; et sur l’évaluation des interventions en question. L’étude donnera lieu à la diffusion d’un guide conseil à destination des professionnels et décideurs municipaux québécois.

Assessment and Design of a Waste Heat Recovery and Energy ConversionSystem for ArcelorMittal Dofasco

The goal of this project is to design a heat recovery system for ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s (AMD)

steel-making plant in order to convert waste heat into power. This will result in lower operating

costs and a lower environmental impact for AMD and represent one more step forward for Hatch

in the area of industrial applications of heat recovery systems. The first intern will identify heat

sources in the process, analyze potential heat recovery systems, integrate a proposed system

with the current process and model the heat transfer equipment The second intern will prepare

a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model of the main equipment and perform structural analysis,

material and equipment selection, and analysis of safety issues and risk management The two

interns will collaborate on equipment selection and investigate the feasibility of the proposed

heat recovery system in terms of its impact on the steel-production process, operating costs and

payback period.

Erosion studies of southern Ontario tills and St. Lawrence Valley marine clays and assessment of an extreme precipitation prediction approach

Quaternary glacial deposition has covered much of southern Ontario with tills and the Saint Lawrence Valley with marine fines. Rivers incised into these materials exhibit particular geomorphologic behavior. Civil engineering works built either in (e.g. dams, bridge piers, etc.), beside (linear infrastructure such as roads, railways, etc.) or across (e.g. bridges, etc.) such rivers must consider the erosion of these cohesive sediments. There is currently very little knowledge about the erosion of these materials. This leads to design challenges and long-term maintenance considerations for hydraulic, geotechnical, transportation and structural engineering projects that can result in increased lifecycle costs and the potential for failure due to unexpected erosion. The proposed research will develop the improved understanding required to assess and predict erosion processes of rivers in glacial tills and marine clays by characterizing the erosion process and determining the threshold and rate of erosion in laboratory experiments.